Two powerful earthquakes occurred in succession on Sunday off the southern coast of Cuba, according to the American Institute of Geophysics (USGS), but local authorities said there were no immediate casualties or warnings. to the tsunami.
The epicenter of the first earthquake was located 14.2 kilometers under the ocean, about 35 kilometers from the coast of Bartolome Maso, in the province of Granma, and about 175 kilometers from Santiago de Cuba, the second largest city. of the country.
The second tremor, with a magnitude of 6.8, occurred 23.5 kilometers under the ocean, about an hour after a first earthquake of magnitude 5.9 felt in several provinces of the country. The epicenter of the second earthquake was located at a depth of 23.5 kilometers, approximately 40 km from the coast of Bartolome Maso, in the province of Granma.
Felt throughout Cuba
The tremors were felt throughout Cuba, without causing any deaths according to initial information, reported the official Cuban newspaper Granma. “People quickly took to the streets because the ground moved very hard,” Andres Perez, a 65-year-old retiree who lives in central Santiago de Cuba, told AFP by telephone. “We really felt it very strongly, my wife is completely on edge,” he added.
Cuba is barely recovering from Hurricane Rafael which hit the west of the island which caused a widespread power outage that lasted almost two days. Last month, a 5.1 magnitude earthquake was recorded in Santiago de Cuba without causing damage.
At the end of January 2020, a 7.7 magnitude earthquake shook the Caribbean between Cuba and Jamaica, felt in several provinces of Cuba but without causing damage despite evacuations in Havana.
